Harness That Wind!!

We have a deadline for reducing the impact of global warming and limiting it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It’s time to utilize all the known and new methods for providing clean energy. One of the better known methods of producing energy is through the power of wind. 

Historically, like hydropower, wind power has been utilized in some form for quite a while. Popular novel, Don Quixote, originally published in 1605 noted one such use in the famous battle with a windmill. Indeed, windmills are thought to have originated either with the Greeks around 250 BC or possibly in China in 200 BC. The windmill was and is still used to complete agricultural tasks such as grinding grain and moving large amounts of water from place to place. The use of the windmill eventually led to the development of the wind turbine which takes the utilization of the wind a step further by producing and storing energy. Instead of the mechanical rotation created by the propellers being used directly in a task like grinding grain, the rotation is leveraged by a series of gears and rotors to create electricity. This electricity can then be transferred to the grid, used on site, or stored in generators. 

The wind turbine is made up of 2 - 4 large blades suspended above ground by a tower. The tower allows for the greatest wind current, high above the ground, to be “captured” for use. The tail or vane attached to the shaft ensures that the blades are facing into the wind and the pitch control unit ensures that the wind turbine’s blades don’t get damaged by violent winds tearing at them at aggressive angles. From the mechanical movement of the blades to the generator, then from the generator to a set of inverters or power interface, energy travels back to the grid. The efficiency of this system controls how much power and the improvement of this system could be the difference of producing enough power for a small town or a large city from the same wind farm. Efficiency is everything. 

Treehugger / Hilary Allison

Wind power is one type of clean energy that produces zero emissions and countries like Denmark, that have been leaning into wind power for several years, are able to produce even more energy than they use. This is an excellent option as we work to replace and eliminate fossil fuel based energy sources. Even if your county or city isn’t utilizing wind power, you may be eligible to use wind power residentially. If it is suitable for your location, residential wind power is actually one of the most affordable options. In some locations, you can cut your home electrical bill by 80%. Combined with another source of energy, it’s possible to design a  home system that produces enough energy to sell back to the grid.  That’s beyond self sufficient! Residential goals for 2022! We have the clean resources, it’s time to implement them. 

Pathways for the Future

Today we are featuring another very cool innovation that has actually been around for several years but it is getting a little more press right now! You are probably pretty familiar with the concept of renewable energy but let’s do a quick review. Renewable energy is any source of energy that is sustainable and doesn’t run out. For example, we don’t run out of sunlight and (for now) it is a bottomless resource that we can utilize. Other examples of renewable energy are wind energy, hydro energy, tidal energy, and geothermal energy. If you’ve ever driven across the US, you’ve probably come across wind farms. These farms harness air movement to generate clean energy. This energy is then used to supplement the grid, reducing the power obtained from fossil fuels.

      It’s a similar pattern with the other sources of clean energy, with an environmental constant providing energy simply through its existence and technological utilization. Alternatively, the type of energy currently being talked about is not from an environmental constant but something we, as human beings, create by living. A human-generated kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is  often thought of as the energy of movement. If you’ve ever seen one of those lines of wired balls where you lift and drop one on one side and when it swings down and hits the group, the ball on the other side swings up, you’ve seen the impact, no pun intended, of kinetic energy. Well, one company called Pavegen, has decided to utilize this type of energy to power the common amenities of common areas. Specifically, Pavegen has harnessed the kinetic energy produced by footsteps to power things like stadium phone chargers, street lights, and supplemental energy for shopping spaces. These triangular panels take the energy produced from being stepped on and transfer it into usable electricity.

Not only is this a very cool idea, but the utilization of these pads have been used to push for more general behavioral changes. For example, one shopping center wanted to push both the use of the Pavegen walkway and the use of their in store app. They incentivized the use of the walkway by connecting it to their store app and rewarding users with bonuses at retailers within the mall. Now, not only are shoppers incentivized to download the mall’s app but they were also rewarded for use of the Pavegen’s walkway. Little integrations like this one allow people to benefit from sustainable activities and ultimately assist in training overall better behaviors for our environment! A true win-win!